Fighting Infection in a Globalized World

Probably the hardest human battle, one that has lasted hundreds of thousands of years, has been the one against infection. Being able to celebrate a 30 birthday was once considered a miracle but only if one survived the perilous years of childhood. Indeed, the CDC reports that in 1900, nearly 30% of deaths worldwide occurred in children 5 and under. It is remarkable how far we’ve come in our ability to fight off pathogens. Better nutrition, medication, sanitation, and overall quality of life has meant that humans are now living longer than ever before in history. Smallpox, one of the deadliest diseases of the 20 century was successfully eradicated in 1977, and we are close with polio. Vaccinations against once-deadly diseases such as rubella, bacterial meningitis, measles, and tuberculosis have drastically slashed early deaths. Yet, according to theWorld Health Organization, infectious diseases continue to kill nearly 15 million people every year. Newer influenza strains, SARS, and Nipah outbreaks among others created major public health scares in the last decade. The fact is that the highly connected and overpopulated world of today has facilitated the swift spread of deadly pathogens, often enforcing quick adaptation to new hosts and conditions. This means that even with the advances in medication and vaccination, we need better surveillance and attention to outbreaks anywhere, however faraway they may seem. Improved surveillance will lead to better preparation for disease containment and treatment. This point has been exemplified over the last 3 years across four continents and two very different viruses—Ebola and Zika. Viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, Lassa, and yellow fever recur every few years, often unfortunately and inevitably with a certain death toll; however, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2014 onward has been the biggest of its kind, killing nearly 12,000 people across several countries. With one of the highest mortality rates for a virus, the spread of Ebola and the lack of available drugs, vaccines, or clear treatment options soon became a major global concern. People traveling to and from West Africa, including medical personnel, needed to be monitored and even quarantined out of fear that the outbreak would spread to the rest of the world. The biology and structure of Ebolavirus is fairly wellstudied, and a number of studies have aimed to use DNA